Our multi-sited ethnographic study of a global value chain examines how power dynamics shape actors’ experience of and response to interorganizational sustainability paradoxes, i.e. persistent tensions between interdependent social and financial objectives. We distinguish between power manifesting as power-over (when it is used to control others) and as power-with (a collective empowerment based on the recognition of interdependence). Our findings reveal that oppressive power-over relationships lead to fragmented experiences of paradox, constraining actors’ collective capacity to productively respond to sustainability paradoxes. However, we also discover that power can act as a generative force for paradox management. When power-over is more balanced, mechanisms of power-with (such as strategic allying, transparent structuring and expanding structures) can emerge, leading to more collective paradox experiences and responses, which allow interorganizational actors to harness the potential of paradox as a source of collective sustainability. We generalize our findings in a process model that highlights how, in interorganizational settings, balancing power-over is not enough for proactive paradox handling. In addition, it needs to be followed up by mechanisms of power-with across levels. Our paper contributes to paradox theory and global value chain theory by developing a more nuanced understanding of the interrelationship between paradox and power, unpacking the role of power-with mechanisms for the process of recognizing interdependence and collaboratively addressing interorganizational paradoxes in global value chains.
AlvessonMatsKärremanDan (2007). Constructing mystery: Empirical matters in theory development. Academy of Management Review, 32, 1265–1281.
3.
ArendtHannah (1970). On violence. London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press.
4.
BarrientosStephanieGereffiGaryRossiArianna (2011). Economic and social upgrading in global production networks: A new paradigm for a changing world. International Labour Review, 150, 319–340.
5.
BednarekRebeccaParoutisSotiriosSillinceJohn (2017). Transcendence through rhetorical practices: Responding to paradox in the science sector. Organization Studies, 38, 77–101.
6.
BednarekRebeccaSmithWendy K. (2023). ‘What may be’: Inspiration from Mary Parker Follett for paradox theory. Strategic Organization, 3, 582–596.
7.
BertiMarcoCunhaMiguel Pina e (2023). Paradox, dialectics or trade-offs? A double loop model of paradox. Journal of Management Studies, 60, 861–888.
8.
BertiMarcoSimpsonAce V. (2021). The dark side of organizational paradoxes: The dynamics of disempowerment. Academy of Management Review, 46, 252–274.
9.
CleggStewart R. (1989 [2023]). Frameworks of power (2nd ed.). London: SAGE.
10.
CleggStewart R. (2009). Foundations of organization power. Journal of Power, 2, 35–64.
11.
CleggStewart R.CourpassonDavidPhillipsNelson (2006). Power and organizations. London: SAGE.
12.
CleggStewart R.HaugaardMark (Eds.) (2009). The Sage handbook of power. London: SAGE.
13.
CuganesanSuresh (2017). Identity paradoxes: How senior managers and employees negotiate similarity and distinctiveness tensions over time. Organization Studies, 38, 489–511.
14.
DallasMark P.PonteStefanoSturgeonTimothy J. (2019). Power in global value chains. Review of International Political Economy, 26, 666–694.
15.
Egels-ZandénNiklas (2007). Suppliers’ compliance with MNCs’ codes of conduct: Behind the scenes at Chinese toy suppliers. Journal of Business Ethics, 75, 45–62.
16.
Egels-ZandénNiklas (2017). Responsibility boundaries in global value chains: Supplier audit prioritizations and moral disengagement among Swedish firms. Journal of Business Ethics, 146, 515–528.
17.
EmersonRichard M. (1962). Power-dependence relations. American Sociological Review, 27, 31–41.
18.
FairhurstGail T.PutnamLinda L. (2023). Performing organizational paradoxes. New York, NY: Routledge.
19.
FlemingPeterSpicerAndré (2014). Power in management and organization science. Academy of Management Annals, 8, 237–298.
20.
FollettMary Parker (1924). Creative experience. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
21.
FoucaultMichel (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
22.
FoucaultMichel (1984). The history of sexuality, vol. I: An introduction. New York, NY: Vintage.
23.
GaimMedhanieCleggStewartCunhaMiguel Pina e (2021). Managing impressions rather than emissions: Volkswagen and the false mastery of paradox. Organization Studies, 42, 949–970.
24.
GereffiGary (2019). Global value chains and international development policy: Bringing firms, networks and policy-engaged scholarship back in. Journal of International Business Policy, 2, 195–210.
25.
GereffiGaryHumphreyJohnSturgeonTimothy (2005). The governance of global value chains. Review of International Political Economy, 12, 78–104.
26.
GereffiGaryLeeJoonkoo (2016). Economic and social upgrading in global value chains and industrial clusters: Why governance matters. Journal of Business Ethics, 133, 25–38.
27.
GrodalStineAntebyMichelHolmAudrey L. (2021). Achieving rigor in qualitative analysis: The role of active categorization in theory building. Academy of Management Review, 46, 591–612.
28.
GrolmanWillemOliveiraNunoOerlemansLeonVan FenemaPaul C. (2025). Potentiality: Power in interorganizational relationships. Academy of Management Annals, 19, 602–634.
29.
HahnTobiasKnightEric (2021). The ontology of organizational paradox: A quantum approach. Academy of Management Review, 46, 362–384.
30.
HahnTobiasPinkseJonatanPreussLutzFiggeFrank (2015). Tensions in corporate sustainability: Towards an integrative frameworkf. Journal of Business Ethics, 127, 297–316.
31.
HuqJo-LouiseReayTrishChreimSamia (2017). Protecting the paradox of interprofessional collaboration. Organization Studies, 38, 513–538.
32.
JarzabkowskiPaulaBednarekRebeccaChalkiasKonstantinosCacciatoriEugenia (2022). Enabling rapid financial response to disasters: Knotting and reknotting multiple paradoxes in interorganizational systems. Academy of Management Journal, 65, 1477–1506.
33.
KanoLiena (2018). Global value chain governance: A relational perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 49, 684–705.
34.
KanoLienaTsangEric W. K.YeungHenry Wai-Chung (2020). Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature. Journal of International Business Studies, 51, 577–622.
35.
KnudsenJette Steen (2013). The growth of private regulation of labor standards in global supply chains: Mission impossible for Western small- and medium-sized firms?Journal of Business Ethics, 117, 387–398.
36.
LangleyAnn (1999). Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review, 24, 691–710.
37.
LewisMarianne W. (2000). Exploring paradox: Toward a more comprehensive guide. Academy of Management Review, 25, 760–776.
38.
LewisMarianne W.SmithWendy K. (2022). Reflections on the 2021 decade award: Navigating paradox is paradoxical. Academy of Management Review, 47, 528–548.
39.
MarcusGeorge E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95–117.
40.
Miron-SpektorEllaIngramAmyKellerJoshuaSmithWendy K.LewisMarianne W. (2018). Microfoundations of organizational paradox: The problem is how we think about the problem. Academy of Management Journal, 61, 26–45.
41.
PamphileVontrese Deeds (2022). Paradox peers: A relational approach to navigating a business–society paradox. Academy of Management Journal, 4, 1274–1302.
42.
PettigrewAndrew M.WoodmanRichard W.CameronKim S. (2001). Studying organizational change and development: Challenges for future research. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 697–713.
43.
PonteStefano (2022). The hidden costs of environmental upgrading in global value chains. Review of International Political Economy, 29, 818–843.
44.
SchadJonathanBansalPratima (2018). Seeing the forest and the trees: How a systems perspective informs paradox research. Journal of Management Studies, 55, 1490–1506.
45.
SchadJonathanLewisMarianne W.RaischSebastianSmithWendy K. (2016). Paradox research in management science: Looking back to move forward. Academy of Management Annals, 10, 5–64.
46.
SchrageStephanieGilbertDirk Ulrich (2021). Addressing governance gaps in global value chains: Introducing a systematic typology. Journal of Business Ethics, 170, 657–672.
47.
SchrageStephanieRascheAndreas (2022). Inter-organizational paradox management: How national business systems affect responses to paradox along a global value chain. Organization Studies, 43, 547–571.
48.
SharmaGarimaBansalPratima (2017). Partners for good: How business and NGOs engage the commercial–social paradox. Organization Studies, 38, 341–364.
49.
SmithWendy K.BesharovMarya L. (2019). Bowing before dual gods: How structured flexibility sustains organizational hybridity. Administrative Science Quarterly, 64, 1–44.
50.
SmithWendy K.LewisMarianne W. (2011). Toward a theory of paradox: A dynamic equilibrium model of organizing. Academy of Management Review, 36, 381–403.
51.
SoundararajanVivekBrownJill A. (2016). Voluntary governance mechanisms in global supply chains: Beyond CSR to a stakeholder utility perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 134, 83–102.
52.
SoundararajanVivekWilhelmMiriamCraneAndrewAgarwalPankhuriShettyHarish (2025). Towards a systemic approach for improving working conditions in global supply chains: An integrative review and research agenda. Academy of Management Annals, 19, 230–264.
53.
SoundararajanVivekWilhelmMiriam MCraneAndrew (2021). Humanizing research on working conditions in supply chains: Building a path to decent work. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 57, 3–13.
54.
SturgeonTimothyVan BiesebroeckJohannesGereffiGary (2008). Value chains, networks and clusters: Reframing the global automotive industry. Journal of Economic Geography, 8, 297–321.
55.
TuckermannHarald (2019). Visibilizing and invisibilizing paradox: A process study of interactions in a hospital executive board. Organization Studies, 40, 1851–1872.
56.
WilhelmMiriamSydowJörg (2018). Managing coopetition in supplier networks: A paradox perspective. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 54, 22–41.
57.
XiaoChengyongWilhelmMiriamvan der VaartTacovan DonkDirk Pieter (2018). Inside the buying firm: Exploring responses to paradoxical tensions in sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 55, 3–20.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
